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Language Hacking French: Learn How to Speak French - Right Away
It's true that some people spend years studying French before they finally get around to speaking the language. But here's a better idea. Skip the years of study and jump right to the speaking part. Sound crazy? No, it's language hacking.
Unlike most traditional language courses that try to teach you the rules of French, #LanguageHacking shows you how to learn and speak French through proven memory techniques, unconventional shortcuts and conversation strategies perfected by one of the world's greatest language learners, Benny Lewis, aka the Irish Polyglot.
Using the language hacks -shortcuts that make learning simple - that Benny mastered while learning his 11 languages and his 'speak from the start' method, you will crack the language code and exponentially increase your language abilities so that you can get fluent faster.
It's not magic. It's not a language gene. It's not something only "other people" can do. It's about being smart with how you learn, learning what's indispensable, skipping what's not, and using what you've learned to have real conversations in French from day one.
The Method
#LanguageHacking takes a modern approach to language learning, blending the power of online social collaboration with traditional methods. It focuses on the conversations that learners need to master right away, rather than presenting language in order of difficulty like most courses. This means that you can have conversations immediately, not after years of study.
Each of the 10 units culminates with a speaking 'mission' that prepares you to use the language you've learned to talk about yourself. Through the language hacker online learner community, you can share your personalized speaking 'missions' with other learners - getting and giving feedback and extending your learning beyond the pages of the book . You don't need to go abroad to learn a language any more.
Unlike most traditional language courses that try to teach you the rules of French, #LanguageHacking shows you how to learn and speak French through proven memory techniques, unconventional shortcuts and conversation strategies perfected by one of the world's greatest language learners, Benny Lewis, aka the Irish Polyglot.
Using the language hacks -shortcuts that make learning simple - that Benny mastered while learning his 11 languages and his 'speak from the start' method, you will crack the language code and exponentially increase your language abilities so that you can get fluent faster.
It's not magic. It's not a language gene. It's not something only "other people" can do. It's about being smart with how you learn, learning what's indispensable, skipping what's not, and using what you've learned to have real conversations in French from day one.
The Method
#LanguageHacking takes a modern approach to language learning, blending the power of online social collaboration with traditional methods. It focuses on the conversations that learners need to master right away, rather than presenting language in order of difficulty like most courses. This means that you can have conversations immediately, not after years of study.
Each of the 10 units culminates with a speaking 'mission' that prepares you to use the language you've learned to talk about yourself. Through the language hacker online learner community, you can share your personalized speaking 'missions' with other learners - getting and giving feedback and extending your learning beyond the pages of the book . You don't need to go abroad to learn a language any more.
256 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2016
41 people are currently reading
215 people want to read
About the author
Benny Lewis
18 books355 followersBenny Lewis is a digital nomad and founder of the largest language learning blog in the world, www.fluentin3months.com. He is a world traveller and after travelling non-stop for 21 years, on the road to this day with everything he owns travelling with him.
His internationally best-selling book Fluent in 3 Months, published by HarperCollins, discusses how adults can learn any language from anywhere at any age. He is a polyglot who speaks over a dozen languages (7 of which are at a fluent level or higher), though he could only speak English when he started his travels at age 21.
He has also published multiple language courses with John Murray learning.
As a result of his travels and his focus on integrating himself into local cultures through language, Benny was named National Geographic’s Traveler of the Year in 2013.
His internationally best-selling book Fluent in 3 Months, published by HarperCollins, discusses how adults can learn any language from anywhere at any age. He is a polyglot who speaks over a dozen languages (7 of which are at a fluent level or higher), though he could only speak English when he started his travels at age 21.
He has also published multiple language courses with John Murray learning.
As a result of his travels and his focus on integrating himself into local cultures through language, Benny was named National Geographic’s Traveler of the Year in 2013.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 7, 2020
I decided to polish up my schoolgirl French whilst on furlough. It's easy to understand and the audio files are available on-line so no need to find a CD player! c'est vraiment très facile à comprendre!
August 30, 2019
I must admit that I find learning about languages to be a deeply interesting thing [1]. and as I am going to some Caribbean islands, a few of which speak French rather than English, I thought it would be practical to at least work on my French enough to be able to read it a little even if my speaking of it is likely to be very poor and very limited. Be that as it may, this is a book that is both practical to me in the sense of wanting to understand and recognize French easier when dealing with it and also interesting on the more general level of my interest in foreign languages and how to learn them from the point of view of a cultured American. This book seems to be aimed at a somewhat young audience of people who want to learn languages rapidly and are more interested in having conversations than they are with deeply understanding a language and its form, which is a sensible approach in an age that largely lacks a formal appreciation of languages to the extent that was the case in the past, at least.
This short book is divided into ten units that take up a bit more than 200 pages. The author begins with an introduction that includes a note from the author as well as a general summary of the contents that will be found inside the book as well as online companion material. The first unit of the book provides some conversations and various tips for talking about oneself (1), and then the author moves on to introducing how someone can ask questions about others (2). After that is a discussion on how to deal with communication problems (3) and also discuss future plans (4) as well as family and friends (5). This leads into a discussion about food, drink, and conversation (6), a discussion of yesterday, last week, and long ago (7) to bring up past tense, and also provides ways that someone can catch up with others they have not talked to in a while (8). The author then concludes with a discussion on description of surroundings, personalities, and what something looks like (9) as well as some tips on how one can carry on one's first conversation in French (10), after which the book ends with an answer key to its questions as well as acknowledgements and some notes on recent French spelling reforms that make the language more phonetic.
This book has a specific approach, and that is to get someone up-to-speed on being able to have conversations in person and online in French with a minimum of formal study and a great deal of tips and hacks. This is by no means a bad thing, and it is useful to outgoing and sociable people who are willing to make mistakes and immerse themselves enough in French to be able to acquire a working knowledge of the language without having a deep understanding of the history or grammatical structure of the French language. For most people, this sort of book presents a winning approach to learning enough French to struggle more or less successfully in having basic conversations that can lead one to build new friendships with people who are tolerant with language learners, which are hopefully the sort of people a reader of this book will find themselves around. While there are certainly cases where someone learning French would need a more formal and more detailed education in the language, this book would seem to suit the purposes of most tourists or exchange students and that is exactly for whom this entertaining book was written.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2011...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2018...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2018...
This short book is divided into ten units that take up a bit more than 200 pages. The author begins with an introduction that includes a note from the author as well as a general summary of the contents that will be found inside the book as well as online companion material. The first unit of the book provides some conversations and various tips for talking about oneself (1), and then the author moves on to introducing how someone can ask questions about others (2). After that is a discussion on how to deal with communication problems (3) and also discuss future plans (4) as well as family and friends (5). This leads into a discussion about food, drink, and conversation (6), a discussion of yesterday, last week, and long ago (7) to bring up past tense, and also provides ways that someone can catch up with others they have not talked to in a while (8). The author then concludes with a discussion on description of surroundings, personalities, and what something looks like (9) as well as some tips on how one can carry on one's first conversation in French (10), after which the book ends with an answer key to its questions as well as acknowledgements and some notes on recent French spelling reforms that make the language more phonetic.
This book has a specific approach, and that is to get someone up-to-speed on being able to have conversations in person and online in French with a minimum of formal study and a great deal of tips and hacks. This is by no means a bad thing, and it is useful to outgoing and sociable people who are willing to make mistakes and immerse themselves enough in French to be able to acquire a working knowledge of the language without having a deep understanding of the history or grammatical structure of the French language. For most people, this sort of book presents a winning approach to learning enough French to struggle more or less successfully in having basic conversations that can lead one to build new friendships with people who are tolerant with language learners, which are hopefully the sort of people a reader of this book will find themselves around. While there are certainly cases where someone learning French would need a more formal and more detailed education in the language, this book would seem to suit the purposes of most tourists or exchange students and that is exactly for whom this entertaining book was written.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2011...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2018...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2018...
May 18, 2020
The second title in the Benny Lewis' language hack series that I worked on after the German one.
It basically follows the same formula and mantra: the goal is for you to have enough basic vocab (and confidence) to have actual conversation with native speaker, the book claims to equip you with the most essential things you need in terms of grammar and pronunciation, you can only get better by start talking and making mistakes along the way, etc., etc. These books follow the same template in terms of chapter structure and some of the scripts; in some cases, you even get the same sample conversations that are only slightly modified to fit the language in question.
French has always been a language that holds a special meaning to me, even though I have no actual experience with either the actual country or the people :v The book brought a bit of those memories back, and I wish I could've had it back then when I was younger and more eager to learn the language! I suppose the book could stand to be a bit clearer and less repetitive in its instructions, but French in my experience was a tough language to learn in terms of spelling/word order/gendered noun memorizing, and the book does a good enough job to make it way less intimidating than it seems (a sample of the book's many helpful tips: the CaReFuL mnemonic, which helps you remember that the capitalised consonants are the ones you can pronounce at the end of most French words).
It basically follows the same formula and mantra: the goal is for you to have enough basic vocab (and confidence) to have actual conversation with native speaker, the book claims to equip you with the most essential things you need in terms of grammar and pronunciation, you can only get better by start talking and making mistakes along the way, etc., etc. These books follow the same template in terms of chapter structure and some of the scripts; in some cases, you even get the same sample conversations that are only slightly modified to fit the language in question.
French has always been a language that holds a special meaning to me, even though I have no actual experience with either the actual country or the people :v The book brought a bit of those memories back, and I wish I could've had it back then when I was younger and more eager to learn the language! I suppose the book could stand to be a bit clearer and less repetitive in its instructions, but French in my experience was a tough language to learn in terms of spelling/word order/gendered noun memorizing, and the book does a good enough job to make it way less intimidating than it seems (a sample of the book's many helpful tips: the CaReFuL mnemonic, which helps you remember that the capitalised consonants are the ones you can pronounce at the end of most French words).
March 16, 2021
It took a few months to get through, but I finally completed the course. Of all the language learning resources I've come across, this one was my absolute favorite. Rather than getting tied up in the grammar, Language Hacking French immediately got me speaking. By the end of the book, I made a lot of progress with my language. It gave me a strong foundation and great tips to get me going. I highly recommend this book to any beginners learning French. After I give myself a couple of months to reinforce these lessons, I plan on doing Benny Lewis's Spanish course, Language Hacking Spanish, as well.
March 24, 2019
Benny’s method is wonderful: start talking to learn how to speak a new language. That’s it! I found all of his suggestions useful, particularly creating me-specific scripts of the things you are likely to have to say during a foreign-language conversation so that you are less likely to chicken out and revert to English. The lessons build logically and the book is packed with information, script-building help, and encouragement.
March 20, 2025
A very good refresher course
Like many Gen Xers I learned French at school (to scraping through to pass O-level) but hardly used it. I like the course a great deal and found that it really helped me to get back to speaking and comprehending French.
The only small gripe I have is the lack of nous used in the course, it being replaced with on. That’s a bit frustrating, but French has probably changed in the past 40 years since I last studied it.
Like many Gen Xers I learned French at school (to scraping through to pass O-level) but hardly used it. I like the course a great deal and found that it really helped me to get back to speaking and comprehending French.
The only small gripe I have is the lack of nous used in the course, it being replaced with on. That’s a bit frustrating, but French has probably changed in the past 40 years since I last studied it.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews